Nuclear Liability Bill
Overview
A Definite Race to the Bottom: The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010 protects nuclear industry from the real costs of compensating loss of life, property and environment in the event of a nuclear disaster. In a representation to the Prime Minister on 13th March, ESG argued that this could be part of an overarching strategy to whittle down India's absolute liability regime, a move apparently sponsored by US EPA grants. Download a copy of the Bill as tabled in Parliament.
Civil Liability of Nuclear Damage Bill Compromises Absolute Liability
Press Release : Bangalore : 15 March 2010
The move by the Government of India to enact the Civil Liability of Nuclear Damage Law has rightly caused a great deal of concern in the Parliament and across Indian society. The effort to cap the maximum liability to the operator in the event of a nuclear accident in a nuclear power plant to a maximum of Rs. 500 crores (US $ 100 million), is nothing short of an outrageous effort that belittles Right to Life in India and trivialises costs involved in compensating the largely irreversible damage to property and environment. This sets a precedent for whittling away the absolute liability regime now in force, and could well serve in undermining compensatory efforts due to a variety of other hazardous and potentially irreversible impacts such as by industrial disasters and genetic contamination. Read more.
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